Hat Trick for Oundle's Netballers

Published on isbi School News dated Thursday 24th of October 2013

Following on from the previous success of Oundle's U16 netballers in the district rounds, Oundle's U14s and 1st team have also been successful and triumphed as District Champions in the District Rounds.

Captain of the U14s, Clare Taylor (13) commented, 'This was the first tournament the U14s have played as a team. The match was played on the coldest and the windiest day that we had experienced so far this term and it was very hard to keep warm!'

The U14s' first match was against Sir Christopher Hatton School which they won 15-1. Oundle won their second game, against Wellingborough School, 9-0. Playing Weavers School in their penultimate match of the tournament, the Oundle girls won 15-1 which meant they were through to the final against Manor School.

Clare concluded, 'The final was a great match seeing us win 10-0 and crowned district champions! Overall we communicated well and knitted together quickly with some fluent passes looking as though we had been playing together for months!'

Oundle's U14 players of the tournament were Goal Attack, Minna Dundas (13) and Goal Shooter, Lily Craven (13) for their superb team work in the D and excellent shooting.

The 1st VII Netball Team also played a total of 4 games, each of which was 10 minutes long.

Captain, Molly Macleod commented, 'We started off the tournament by playing Manor School, who we beat 23-0. This was an excellent start to the day for us, especially as our team had only played together a few times prior to the tournament. We started the game with a fast pace, making strong passes and feeding accurately into the attacking D. The shooters held up under strong pressure and obstructions from Manor's defence, whilst our defence worked hard to stop the other team from having any attempts at scoring. Emily Bainbridge (17) in particular made a lot of good interceptions, despite the fact that she had an injured hand.'

Oundle's second game, against Wollaston, got off to a much slower start with Oundle players moving into the available space too soon and panicking with their passes. However, after a lot of encouragement from the sideline, the team developed a good sense of urgency on court in their efforts to make up for the lost time. In centre court, the team started to place the ball well again and continued to keep running onto the ball. Oundle's defence, and especially Juliette Aliker (17), continued to apply pressure which secured Oundle a 13-1 victory.

After a 16-1 win against Sir Christopher Hatton School, Oundle played a final tough game against Wellingborough.
Molly added, 'We knew that this would be a tough and close game, so we came out fighting for every ball from the first whistle, which allowed us to turn over the first centre pass which Wellingborough took. The team made strong and accurate passes all the way up the court, as well as making a number of impressive interceptions. In particular, Alex Cobb (17) applied a lot of pressure to the other team in their attacking half of the court which allowed us to turn over a number of 'held balls'. We struggled to make space in our attacking D, but the shooters held up under pressure and fought for every rebound.'

Oundle won this match 8-5 and were crowned district champions

Molly concluded, 'We finished the day unbeaten and will now progress to County Rounds as the best 1st VII Netball Team in our district. The tournament has given us a number of things to work on - in particular our communication on court. '

Head of Netball, Bev Burnham commented, 'This is a very pleasing start to the Netball Clubs season. All age groups have come together to work hard at their 3 practices and have produced an unbeaten District Campaign, now to take on the best of the County in November.'